A regiment () is a historical administrative, territorial, military and judicial unit of subdivision in the Cossack Hetmanate and Sloboda Ukraine (Slobidska Ukraine) in the 17th–18th centuries.

Regiments were headed by a colonel (), who was a member of the Council of Officers (). The regimental system evolved out of the existing system of Registered Cossacks (later Town Cossacks) in the Kyiv, Bratslav and Chernihiv Voivodeships in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, whose government appointed the colonels until 1648.

Overview

The regiment was the first level of the administrative and military division of the Cossack Hetmanate. The second level was the sotnia (company), the third level was the kurin. Subdivisions of the Cossack HetmanateFirstRegiment, pl. SecondSotnia, pl. ThirdKurin, pl.

Regiments Evolution +Example:Registered Cossacks regiments in 1649Marek Gędek. Atlas historyczny wojen polskich, pp. 90-91. Bellona, Warszawa 2009. # Headquarters Number of Registered Cossacks 1 Bila Tserkva 2990 2 Bratslav 2662 3 Cherkasy 2990 4 Chernihiv 998 5 Chyhyryn 3220 6 Kalnyk 2050 7 Kaniv 3167 8 Kyiv 2002 9 Korsun 3470 10 Kropyvna 1993 11 Myrhorod 3009 12 Nizhyn 991 13 Pereyaslav 2986 14 Poltava 2970 15 Pryluky 1996 16 Uman 2977 Historically, there have been 51 Cossack regiments in Ukraine in the 17th and 18th century in total. The number of active regiments varied over time. For example, when the Cossack Hetmanate was recognised by the Treaty of Zboriv in 1647, and controlled both Right-bank Ukraine and Left-bank Ukraine, there were 16 regiments. The treaty stipulated a maximum of 40,000 Registered Cossacks. Gędek (2009) calculated that the 16 regiments in the year 1649 had slightly more than that: 40,471.

From 1650 to 1653, it included 17 regiments: 10 in Right-bank Ukraine, and 7 in Left-bank Ukraine. As the Hetmanate was splitting the 1660s, Left-bank Ukraine increased its 7 regiments to 10 in the late 1650s and early 1660s. In Right-bank Ukraine, the regiments gradually disappeared in the 1670s and 1680s due to military reforms in the Commonwealth, although during the Paliy uprising (1702–1704), Semen Paliy restored four old Right-bank regiments in 1702, and created three new regiments in 1704. Once the Commonwealth restored control over the Right Bank, the seven Right-bank regiments were abolished in 1712, with many of them transferring to the Left Bank by a Russo-Polish treaty. Tsarist Russia abolished the remnants of the regimental system in the 1780s. Sloboda Ukraine had five autonomous Cossack regiments from the 1650s to 1765.

List of regiments RegimentUkrainianCoat of armsPeriodChyhyryn RegimentЧигиринський1625–1678Cherkasy RegimentЧеркаський1625–1686Korsun RegimentКорсунський1625–1712Bila Tserkva RegimentБілоцерківський1625–1712Kaniv RegimentКанівський1625–1712Pereiaslav RegimentПереяславський1625–1782Kyiv RegimentКиївський1625–1782Myrhorod RegimentМиргородський1625–1782Ovruch RegimentОвруцький1648–1660sIrkliiv RegimentІркліївський1648–1648Sosnytsia RegimentСосницький1648–1648Chornobyl RegimentЧорнобильський1648–1649Borzna RegimentБорзнянський1648–1649Zhyvotiv RegimentЖивотівський1648–1649Ichnia RegimentІчнянський1648–1649Hadiach RegimentГадяцький1648–16491671-1782Zviahel RegimentЗвягельський1648–1649Ostropil RegimentОстропільський1648–1649Podillia RegimentПодільський1648–1649Liubartiv RegimentЛюбартівський1648–1649Lysianka RegimentЛисянський1648–1657Bratslav RegimentБрацлавський1648–1667Vinnytsia RegimentВінницький1648–1667Uman RegimentУманський1648–1675Pavoloch RegimentПаволоцький1648–1675Poltava RegimentПолтавський1648–1675Lubny RegimentЛубенський1648–1781Nizhyn RegimentНіжинський1648–1782Pryluky RegimentПрилуцький1648–1782Chernihiv RegimentЧернігівський1648–1782Kropyvna RegimentКропивнянський1649–1658Chechelnyk RegimentЧечельницький1650–1673Novhorod RegimentНовгород-Сіверський1653–1654, 1669 Pinsk–Turiv RegimentПінсько-Турівський1654–1659Belarus RegimentБілоруський1655–1659 Kremenchuk RegimentКременчуцький1661–1666Zinkiv RegimentЗіньківський1661–1671Hlukhiv RegimentГлухівський1663–1665Starodub RegimentСтародубський1663–1782Fastiv RegimentФастівський1684–1712Bohuslav RegimentБогуславський1685–1712

Maps of regiments

See also Cossack Hetmanate Sotnia Kurin Palanka (administrative unit), a similar division in the Zaporozhian Sich

References

Literature

Panashenko, V. Regimental system. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine.